Northwest Bancshares Inc. Invests $1.30 Million in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Northwest Bancshares Inc. bought a new position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 8,356 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,302,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Target in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new position in shares of Target in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Target in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its position in shares of Target by 156.5% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Target in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TGT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Target in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Target from $153.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Target from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Target from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Target from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.47.

Target Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE TGT opened at $156.00 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Target Co. has a 52 week low of $128.37 and a 52 week high of $181.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $152.84 and its 200 day moving average is $150.32. The company has a market cap of $71.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.12, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.24.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.18 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $25.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.19 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.80 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Target Co. will post 9.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Target’s payout ratio is currently 46.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Target

In other Target news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total transaction of $153,130.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. The trade was a 12.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total transaction of $997,715.16. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 123,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,418,510.67. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 52,348 shares of company stock valued at $8,290,995. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Target Profile

Target Corporation operates as a general merchandise retailer in the United States. The company offers apparel for women, men, boys, girls, toddlers, and infants and newborns, as well as jewelry, accessories, and shoes; and beauty and personal care, baby gear, cleaning, paper products, and pet supplies.